Beauticians and barbers who engage in various hair treating operations, especially curling operations, employ combs to accomplish the same. When employing a conventional comb for curling operations, it is not possible to remove the comb from a curl after the completion thereof without largely destroying the curl either by uncurling the same or otherwise. Accordingly, a number of inventions have been made previously in the comb art by which the teeth of combs may be retracted at the completion of a curing operation, for example, and thereby permit the comb to be withdrawn from the formed curl. Some of the more simple types of combs for this purpose which employ only a single comb retractable into the body thereof are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,245,056 to Schlicker, dated June 10, 1941, 2,584,023 to Johnson et al, dated Jan. 29, 1952, and 2,672,876, to Bedwell, dated Mar. 23, 1954. The foregoing types of combs were manually operable to effect the retraction of the combs into slots formed in the bodies thereof. An additional embodiment of this type of comb is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,260,269 to Zurndorfer, dated July 12, 1966, in which rotatable spur gears engage short racks formed on a single comb member in a manner by which rotation of the handle effected withdrawal of the comb teeth into the body thereof and reverse movement of the handle effected projection of the teeth therefrom.
Another even earlier type of comb operated by cam means is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 1,280,180 to Deason, dated Oct. 1, 1918, and in which a single comb member in the midst of brush bristles is adapted to be retracted and projected by means of cam slots in the comb, the comb being retracted and projected by means of a manually movable button, slidable along the handle of the comb and brush.
Certain inventors also subsequently developed combs of the foregoing type in which two or more combs mounted on a single body were rendered retractable and projectable by various means, typical examples of which are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,244,068 to Kay, dated June 3, 1941; 3,148,685 to Haynes et al, dated Sept. 15, 1964; and 3,381,693 to Stevens, dated May 7, 1968. In the Kay patent, one embodiment is illustrated in which four combs are adapted to be projected or retracted by means of rotation of a mounting member within a cylindrical housing to effect a somewhat compound movement of the combs which ultimately effects a radial position of the same with respect to the body, while in another embodiment, rows of either brushes or combs are projected and retracted by means of linkages actuated by threaded means which are rotated by longitudinal movement of a manually operable button slidable along a handle at one end of the comb device.
The present invention has been devised in an effort to provide mechanical means by which, preferably, a greater number of combs than four may be commonly actuated to either retract or project the same with respect to a substantially cylindrical body, and this is accomplished by means not shown in the foregoing patents.